Kirill Kaprizov scored three goals and added an assist as the Minnesota Wild beat the Florida Panthers 4–1 at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.
Kaprizov contributed to every Minnesota goal. Matt Boldy scored the opener and assisted on Kaprizov’s second goal, while Jesper Wallstedt made 29 saves to protect the Wild’s lead.
Boldy scored 53 seconds into the first period, with Jared Spurgeon and Kaprizov receiving assists. Kaprizov then made it 2–0 on the power play at 6:18, assisted by Maxim Shabanov and Quinn Hughes.
Matthew Tkachuk answered for Florida at 2:18 of the second period. His unassisted goal brought the Panthers within one, but Minnesota restored the two-goal margin less than three minutes later.
Kaprizov scored again at 5:00 of the second, with Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek assisting. He completed the hat trick with an unassisted goal at 18:56 of the third period.
Florida finished with a 30–29 advantage in shots on goal. Wallstedt stopped 29 of the Panthers’ 30 attempts, and Jacob Markstrom made 25 saves on 28 shots faced for Florida.
Minnesota’s first two goals gave it a lead before the first period was seven minutes old. After Tkachuk’s response, Kaprizov supplied both remaining goals to make the final margin three.
The Wild improved to 3–1–1. Florida fell to 2–1–2, with Tkachuk providing its only goal of the night.
